Sunday, April 26, 1998 Last modified at 2:53 a.m. on Sunday, April 26, 1998

A herd of buffalo stand in a holding pen after being captured during a buffalo roundup at the Fort Wingate, N.M., Military Depot, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 1997. Two years have passed since Indian tribes, animal rights activists and a federal judge crashed the state-sponsored hunt of a western New Mexico buffalo herd, but the fate of the animals is far from resolved.AP PhotoBuffalo herd's health wanes as groups talk

SOCORRO, N.M. (AP) - A herd of graceful New Mexican buffalo faces a dismal future: homeless on the range.

The animals' home for the past three decades - some 17,000 acres surrounding the Fort Wingate Army Depot - is expected to be transferred to the Navajo Nation, which doesn't want the buffalo.

Unwanted and abandoned on their range 130 miles west of Albuquerque, the legal fate of the herd is uncertain.

Tribal representatives, federal officials and hunting advocates met Friday to discuss the animals' future. No decision was made, but negotiations are expected to continue.

While the groups talk, the health of the herd has also grown uncertain. Some older members have been reported near death because their teeth have worn down and they aren't able to chew.

A buffalo hunt proposed in 1995 by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to cull some of the older bison was canceled after animal rights activists and Indian tribes sued.

U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez issued a temporary restraining order early last year in Santa Fe banning the hunt unless the Army undertook an environmental analysis. The Army appealed the order, and then dropped it.

"Now, they're just dying a slow death," said George Downer, a state wildlife officer. "Whether you hunt them, poison them or let them starve, they are going to die."

Since the cancellation of the hunt, eight buffalo died of starvation, said Chris Chadwick, spokesman for the New Mexico Game and Fish Department.

Without some sort of caretaker, the health of the herd may further deteriorate, say state game officials.

The remaining Wingate herd totals 63 animals but could rise to as many as 80 by the end of this spring's calving season.

The Navajo Nation wants to build housing and businesses on its part of the Fort Wingate land, not graze cattle.

"We have no interest in housing buffalo," said Sharlene Begay-Platero, a development coordinator for the Navajo Nation. "We don't have the fencing. There are costs to move them, and they need land and medical attention."

But the Zunis tribe - which also expect a share of the Fort Wingate land - has expressed some interest in starting a tribal herd with 25 of the animals.

The Zunis can provide land and veterinary needs, but costly fencing would need to be put up, said Zuni tribal administrator Hayes Lewis.

Sandia, Pojoaque and Picuris pueblos also say they're interested in auiring some of the remaining animals, but details about how they would handle the medical care and fencing remains unclear.

Tod Stevenson, a division chief with the state Game and Fish Department, said an environmental analysis is still needed before the herd is moved.

The environmental analysis would cost $30,000, Stevenson said, adding the herd is valued at $32,000. Moving the buffalo would cost more than $17,000, he said.

A committee of military officials and Zuni and Navajo representatives is to meet May 5 in Gallup.